Collective Haul, I believe it's called

These are some things that I've bought/acquired in the last month or so. I've really been trying hard not to spend too much money at the moment, so the haul is small. ツ


Here we see:

❥ Styli-Style Twist & Seal Eyeliner in Turquoise ... I got this for a costume party I'm going to later in the month. I won't reveal yet what my costume will be, but I'll just say that I'm going All Out with my makeup! I've really got to get on with solving my face photography issues before then! =7
I bought this from FishPond. Known mainly as a book seller, I quickly discovered that this site sells beauty products, too! Joy! The purchase was a test really, to see if the site is any good before I go throwing too much money at it. Perhaps I'll do a site review soon.

❥ Mirenesse Absolutely Smooth Primer x4 [not pictured] ... I was so happy with the performance of this primer, that when there was another big sale on Ozsale, I got a bundle of 4. They should last me a really, really long time!

❥ Palmolive Strawberry Soother Exfoliating Body Wash ... I got this sample size bottle for free. Whee! There's a story behind it. I was at my local supermarket, where there was a sample stall set up, as you often see. The stall was giving away roast potatoes or some such thing, and there was a huge rush of people all going for their free potatoes. I wasn't hungry so I walked straight past, only to notice a second stall tucked away behind it with (joy!) beauty products! I loitered around for a while amongst the fruit and veg, and I noticed that everyone was ignoring the poor girl. I felt sorry for her, so I went over and let her give me her spiel, which she did with the appropriate amount of enthusiasm. Then she let me choose a free sample! It made my day.

❥ Doro Sen Gan Charcoal Clay Wash ... that's all I know about this product. The rest of the text is in Japanese. I bought it from Tokuya in the city. I was looking for a new shower hat and, well, you know, beauty products just seem to jump into my basket. I'm sure you can relate.

❥ Vitamin E Collagen Vitamin Essence Mask ... I bought this at Tokuya, too. Again, few details, but much happiness. The fruit pictures on the front make me think it might contain fruit essences. I'm building up a stock of cloth face masks now, but I just couldn't help myself. It was a fun trip.

Asian Beauty Haul

The spending ban is over! I'm so excited! (Though really I should be sensible about money all the time; a girl needs to treat herself now and then!) I actually broke the spending ban one day early, because I suddenly remembered that YesStyle had a buy-one-get-one-free deal on certain beauty products in the month of June only. These things can sometimes be a bit dodgy, but nearly 400 different products were included in the deal, so it didn't feel like I was restricted in my choices at all. In fact, there were some things I really wanted and needed included in the deal. Even better! So in this haul I got 2 products for free! This is what I got.


* Kose Softymo Powder Sheet in Strawberry (40 sheets) (not pictured)
- this was a replacement for the Daiso sheets that I ran out of last week. So I can spruce myself up at work if I've gone for a walk at lunchtime, etc.

* My Beauty Diary Mexico Cactus Mask (pk 10)
- after trying out my first cloth mask a few weeks ago, I was determined to get more! These seemed like quite good value, and the Mexican Cactus sounded intriguing.

* SkinFood Good Afternon Honey Black Tea BB Cream (Light Beige)
- All of my Baviphat mini BB Creams are quite well-squeezed now, so I figured it was time for my first full-sized BB Cream. There are so many on the site, it was agonising, but I'd been eyeing off the SkinFood Good Afternoon range for a while now. So I decided on the Honey Black Tea variant, which is moisturising, illuminating and has SPF.

* Koji No. 62 Eyelash Curler
- call me vain, but ever since I've been reading beauty blogs and seen the long, lush, thick, curled eyelashes that many other girls have, I've become increasingly disillusioned with my own. There are tools out there to help, so why not try them! This particular one came in cool, faceted packaging, but it was mainly the price that made me choose it. Now I just have to figure out how to use the darned thing. Thank goodness for YouTube.

* Be Creation Oil In Cuticle Nail Pusher Pen
- I have terrible ragged cuticles, I tend to pick them a lot, as well. Hopefully this purchase will help me keep them in better shape.

* Be Creation Gradation Nail Polish Set (set of 3)
- I just wanted this, it was a total indulgence purchase. I already have so many nail polishes, but the idea of the easy colour gradation nail art just appealed to me. There were so many different sets to choose from, but I finally chose these colours because I don't really have anything like them in my collection. This colour set is called Pink Cadillac (after the cocktail I'm assuming, not after the car, as there's a picture of a cocktail on the packaging. Cute!).

* Sophie Monk Beauty Mild Cleansing Oil
- I'm nearly out of makeup remover, so I needed some more. I would not normally have chosen this brand, but it was one of the free items I got. At first I thought that the actress Sophie Monk had started a beauty line, but it turns out that this brand is from Taiwan, and it seems to have nothing to do with her, as far as I can tell from some googling. I'm actually slightly disappointed! But as long as it works at cleaning my face, it doesn't matter.

* Home-Sweet-Home Cutie Cat and Dog Button Earrings
- these were on my save-for-later for the longest time and I finally decided to get them. I'm into stud earrings at the moment, and these quirky mismatched pair are adorable! Apparently they were the last pair too, as I just went back to the site to check some details, and now they're showing as sold out. Now I feel like I have something exclusive! =D


Ok now, I will really try not to make any more purchases for the next few week, unless I actually need them! - purchases of beauty products, anyway. I've become completely obsessed with craft again lately, so all my money will probably be spent on wool and things like that.

My First Cloth Mask!

As promised, here's a post about my first time using a cloth face mask. It's not a review, just a few comments about my experience with it. The mask I used was the Ffid Coenzyme Q10 Cloth Mask that I was given by my lovely friends who brought me some beauty products back from Japan. I used it one day last week when I was home sick and I thought I deserved a treat!

This is what the packaging looked like. I can't read Japanese text at all, but I've read enough beauty blogs to know in general how they work. I figured that 15-20 minutes would be a good time to keep it on my face.



I took the mask out of the packet and unfolded it. It was soaked realy well with serum, so much that it was practically dripping! I was very pleased with that. Applying the mask to my face with all the little shaping parts to it was more complicated than I thought it would be, but the persistence was worth it!
Now, I have to apologise in advance for this next picture! I was embarrassed about how I looked in the mask, plus the photos didn't turn out too well, so I decided to spruce them up a bit by making this collage:



One touch that I loved was that the mask had little flaps for the eyes which you flip up once you're ready to lie back and relax. I don't know if other eye masks have this, but I hope so! I used the time to listen to a guided relaxation MP3 on my iPod.
The serum was clear and had no smell. As I said before, the mask was soaked with it, so when I removed the mask, I rubbed it into my face and also my neck. In fact there was also plenty of serum left in the packet, so I squeezed it into a spare little pot I had, and applied it over the next few nights.

I have to say - I'm a cloth face mask convert! I love them! I want more!